In a testing method, which is recognized by the Automotive Electronics Council as the standard in quality assurance, for an integrated circuit which has at least one ground terminal and multiple signal terminals a signal potential is applied to one signal terminal and a ground potential (grounding) is applied to the at least one ground terminal. A ground potential is applied to all other signal terminals. Signal terminal in this connection means each terminal which is not intended to be connected to ground during operation of the circuit.
A disadvantage of this testing method is that the resulting characteristic curve is barely dependent on the structure of the integrated circuit. It has been found in experiments that this testing method is therefore unsuitable for detecting certain crystal defects and aluminum spiking. Therefore, it may be the case that certain defective integrated circuits enter the market, which represents a safety risk in particular in safety-relevant vehicle electronics.